Your city’s weekly paper probably runs an annual “Best Of” issue, but unless the Austin Chronicle is your paper and unless Silas Lowe lives in your town, that issue probably does not include a “Best Artistic Representation of a Filibuster” prize. That category was invented specifically to recognize Lowe for his 2013 folk hero tribute “Didn’t She Stand (Here’s to Wendy Davis).”

For a songwriter confronting some of the more unsettling facets of life in contemporary America, Lowe’s songs are highly listenable, witty, and fun. Each its own dark comedy, he fashions musical portraits of lives squandered in barrooms, spent struggling amidst failed economic policies, or lost in tragedies both natural and preventable. Audiences subject to Lowe’s distinct brand of comedic banter will find themselves asked to vote between hearing a song about “the intersection between humanity and modern industrial capitalism” or a song about “the illusionary upward mobility of the middle class” -- sometimes, those are one and the same.

After a long-term stint in the Atomic Duo, his project with Bad Livers founder Mark Rubin, Lowe assembled a crack team of formidable instrumentalists for his 2013 release “The Things We Take for Granted”: Jeremy Wade (pedal steel), Andy Lentz (fiddle) and Joshua Hoag (bass).

A self-described “ethnic hippie and cultural yankee,” Lowe spent his youth between Branford, Conn. and Mendocino, Calif. “I lost about a year of my university experience to sitting in a dorm room drinking cheap whiskey and trying to play like John Hartford, Frank Wakefield, the Holy Modal Rounders, and Bill Monroe,” he says. The practice paid off -- Lowe now performs regularly out of Austin, Texas, where he has lived since 2006. He has also entertained crowds at the Kennedy Center, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Northern Lights Boreal Festival, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, Vancouver Folk Festival, and numerous other festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada.

"I had the good fortune of mixing and mastering some recordings for Silas Lowe for my label... he's a great songwriter with a nice laid back performance style. His poetry is well crafted. He deserves to be well heard by anyone interested in folk music or picking music. He lets his music do the work." — Danny Barnes

Andy Lentz...

With his background in classical violin, bluegrass, and country, Andy adds depth and fire to any ensemble. Over the last several years, he’s performed with many great musicians and bands including The Devil Makes Three, Rita Hosking, The Brothers Comatose, and Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers.

Andy relocated from Northern California to Austin, Texas in late-2011 to continue pursuing his music career. Shortly following his arrival, he integrated himself into the rich acoustic music scene and began performing with several local bands. After their first meeting at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, Andy joined Silas’s band in January 2013 and has been contributing his talents for fiddling, singing, and song arrangement to the group ever since.

“Andy Lentz’s fiddle bow is like a lightning rod that conducts unbridled joy... but the notes are controlled, creative and right in the pocket. I love his playing.” — Brennen Leigh